Heart Disease
Background
The heart is a muscle that acts as a pump to send blood around your body. When it either gets damaged by heart attacks or infections (cardiomyopathy), has a malfunctioning heart valve, or grows too big (e.g., from long standing and untreated high blood pressure), it may no longer be able to pump blood effectively. Improving the efficiency of the heart muscle can be helpful for most heart problems that are severe enough to cause symptoms (e.g., chest pain, shortness of breath, swelling in your ankles that persists when you wake in the morning — mild swelling at night is common even in healthy people).
Also see Congestive Heart Failure and Angina.
Treatments
Treating the underlying high blood pressure, valve problem, or angina is important. Heart valve surgery is rarely recommended unnecessarily, and cardiologists are very good with this issue. Follow your physician’s advice for lowering blood pressure as well.
Fortunately, natural remedies do an excellent job at improving heart muscle efficiency, and even modest improvements can improve function dramatically. The following recipe can help anyone with heart disease (unless they have associated kidney failure, in which case the magnesium part of the treatment should be monitored by their physician).
Take these nutrients for 6 weeks to see the optimal effects. The benefits for heart health are often dramatic! Most people choose to stay on them, though they can often lower the dose.
Recommended Supplements
Give the following six weeks to see the full effect.
Ribose
Ribose powder looks and tastes like sugar and is a key to energy production in the body — including the heart. I recommend 1 scoop (5 gms) 3 times a day for 6 weeks, then twice a day. This nutrient is outstanding for heart disease and is the most important one. You will likely be amazed after 6 weeks on it!
Coenzyme Q10
Coenzyme Q10. Take 400 mg/day for 6 weeks, then 200 mg/day. This nutrient is especially critical for anyone on cholesterol lowering medications, even if there is no heart problem, as these medications cause Coenzyme Q10 deficiency, and this nutrient is critical for energy production. Use a special highly absorbed chewable form. Can go with a higher dose.
Magnesium
Magnesium glycinate 200 mg/day and B Complex 50+ mg/day and vitamin D 1,000-2,000 units a day. You can typically find these in a good multivitamin powder. Take as directed daily, but if it causes gas or loose stools, decrease the powder to 1/2 dose a day. Magnesium not only increases your heart muscles strength, but also helps maintain healthy heart rhythms.
Magnesium Orotate
This is different from magnesium glycinate, and 6,000 mg a day for one month followed by 3,000 mg a day increased survival rate 50% and markedly improved function in a placebo controlled study.
If the dose on the bottle is just given as the magnesium, 400 mg of the magnesium supplies 6,000 mg of magnesium orotate.
Acetyl L-Carnitine
Acetyl L-Carnitine 500 mg 3 times a day for 6 weeks, then stop unless symptoms recur.
Hawthorn
Two capsules of Hawthorn Phytosomes three times a day.
Caution
If on the blood thinner Coumadin, get your doctors OK before adding any supplements.
More Information Online
Articles on Heart Health by Dr. T